Determined to run against those who maliciously evade the payment of taxes, the Department of Justice (uDOJ) filed a total of 41 tax evasion charges against a construction firm and a metal business firm for their utilization of ghost tax receipts.

Specifically resolving in favor of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), 37 cases were lodged on 10 December 2024 before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) and Metropolitan Trial Court (MeTC) of Pasig City against E.D. Buenviaje Builders, Inc.; and 4 charges before the Malabon City RTC and Manila City MeTC against Limhuaco Metal Industrial, Inc. together with their responsible corporate officers for violations of Sections 254, 255, 267 in relation 253 (d) and 256 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended.

Ghost Receipts are receipts with fictitious underlying transactions where buyers of the same declare in their tax returns to illegally lessen their tax due.

To recall, charges were previously filed against sellers of ghost receipts, namely, Decarich Supertrade Inc., Crazykitchen Foodtrade Corp., Buildforce Trading Inc., Redington Corporation, Everpacific Inc., and Unimaker Enterprise Inc.

These companies do not have any legitimate business activity and were only established to sell fake receipts to its buyer corporations/individuals so that the latter can claim them as fake deduction/expenses to maliciously lessen tax liabilities.

This time, charges were filed against the said construction and metal business firms for being recipients of the said fictitious receipts.

The audit and other enforcement measures against Buyers and Sellers of Ghost Receipts were pioneered by the BIR's Run After Fake Transactions (RAFT) Program. Buyers and Sellers of Ghost Receipts are being audited by the BIR. Several of these Buyers and Sellers have pending criminal cases before the DOJ, some have already been elevated to the Courts by the with pending warrants of arrest against its corporate officers.

"Let this be a warning to those who pusposely betray public trust by defrauding the State of collecting its due. Taxes are the life blood of this nation and by deceptively evading the same equates to outright robbing from the Filipino people," Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla said.

This decisive move by the DOJ is in collaboration with the BIR in connection with its RAFT Program.